Near-Death Experiences and
Suicide

If
you are currently thinking about suicide, please
see your doctor and tell him about it. Someday you
will be very glad you did. It may be that you are
suffering from the illness called depression
which is very curable with proper medication
and counseling.
There are also suicide hotlines
on the internet that have information that can help
you. If you are someone who has lost a loved one,
there is an excellent website on grief and bereavement
to help survivors cope with their loss.

Many people have the mistaken belief that suicide
is a one-way ticket to hell. This is often traced
to faulty religious dogma or cultural influences.
After all, what really is the definition of suicide?
Is falling on a grenade to save the lives of others
an act of suicide?
Was it suicide when Jesus decided to have himself
killed when he could have avoided it? Is a person
who is constantly feeding a junk food habit committing
suicide? What about a hopelessly terminally ill
patient who wants to spare his family from devasting
financial ruin just to prolong their life for a
few more months? According to a national study,
Medicare spends one-third of the cost of treating
cancer in the final year, and 78% of that spending
occurs in the final month.

Near-death
experiences are giving society answers to such questions.
In general, near-death experiences reveal the quality
of our lives after death is not determined by HOW
we die, but by how we LIVE. Unfortunately, many
suicides cause devastating emotional damage to families
lasting a lifetime or more. This is the REAL tragedy
and the problem with committing suicide. While near-death
experiences show that suicide, in itself, has spiritual
consequences which are no different from other ways
of dying, it does show there are penalties for hurting
others. This is why people who decide to justifiably
end their life must do the research and prepare
themselves and those around them.

Other articles
in this section includes information about a person's
right to control their own life and death, and the
strong legal case which allows people facing intractable
pain or indignities in the final stages of their
life to determine for themselves when life is no
longer worth living. With all the modern medical
procedures physicians have at their disposal to
prolong life and resusitate people from death, and
the negative implications which can arise from them,
society must now decided whether or not people facing
end-of-life decisions should be allowed to voluntarilly
receive assistance by a physican to end their life.
The issue of a person's right-to-die is based on
the principles of liberty, autonomy, equality, dignity,
and unnecessary suffering.